Darude Tears Into Town on His Storm 25 Tour

As soon as the soft synths start, you can recognize the song. They quickly get louder before a sudden kick drum and snare break it up, and almost police-siren-like goes Da‑da‑da‑da‑daa!

Released in 1999 by Finnish producer Darude, "Sandstorm" is one of those dance tracks that has transcended the dance floor, leaping into popular consciousness. Everyone has heard the track at least once in their life. It also resides in the pantheon of "Jock Jams," which soundtracks sporting events, alongside dance music classics like Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400" and Bizarre Inc's "I'm Gonna Get You."

"I was making music, but didn't consider myself a pro. I was a hobbyist and still at the beginning of my career," Darude, born Ville Virtanen, tells New Times over the phone from Finland, where he's taking a break from touring and catching up on yardwork. As a university student living in Turku, Finland's third-largest city, Virtanen explored the city's diverse nightlife scene and soaked in everything, mainly Dutch and German trance.

Not considering himself a professional, working musician, Virtanen produced tracks on a computer and synthesizer from his bedroom. "Sandstorm" was among those early demos he handed out to local DJs. "I gave one of my promos to [Finnish producer] JS16 at a club in Turku," he says. "I wasn't really looking to get signed, but I was just looking for feedback. He called me to ask me to meet him. I knew the guy by name and reputation; he was one of the leading electronic dance music producers at the time. It was a dream to work with him."

Alongside JS16, Virtanen worked on improving that early demo of "Sandstorm." While all the elements that made a worldwide hit were already there, Virtanen admits that JS16 helped with the track's arrangement and sound selection, which brought it to another level.

After the official release of "Sandstorm" in 1999, complete with an iconic music video featuring Virtanen in his best Y2K-era attire sitting on the steps of Helsinki Cathedral, Virtanen quickly found himself as one of Europe's most in-demand DJs. "It went to No. 1 on the Finnish dance chart within a week or two and then stayed there for 17 weeks, which was unheard of. I couldn't explain, nor could JS like what happened or why, but the dance floor reactions were crazy."
That was just the beginning. The track got a worldwide release the following year, where, by 2001, it had become a certified hit in the United States, peaking at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart. That was an incredible achievement, considering American audiences were still apprehensive about European dance music. Although UK big beat had made some inroads, the country was still more interested in rock, hip-hop, and the then-burgeoning bubblegum pop sound.

"Somebody said at some point that 'Sandstorm' was viral before being viral was a thing," Virtanen says of the track's success in America. "My first gig in the U.S. was in December 2000 in Hartford, Connecticut, at a place called Insomnia. I was booked by a local DJ called Rob Silas, AKA Si-Dog, who played at the club with a couple of his friends. He booked me because a few DJs around there had an imported 'Sandstorm' vinyl, and then the rest of them had it on CD. I went there and wasn't expecting much, but people knew the track. It was a really cool welcome to America."

Now, after a quarter century of the release of his debut album, Before the Storm, Darude is on the road celebrating his enduring legacy. His Storm 25 tour, from which Darude is on a break since the Madrid show on June 21, will resume at the Ground on August 15.

"Before Ultra was a thing, I played with Tiësto at Bayfront Park," Virtanen says of his earliest Miami gig. "I also played during Winter Music Conference several times. I can't remember if I've ever played at Space, but I've definitely been at the venue a couple of times."
Virtanen is excited about finally making his grand return to South Florida and hopes Darude fans, both old and new, will learn a bit more about him beyond "Sandstorm."

"What I wanted to do with this tour is take it a little bit back to where I started," Virtanen says. "I wasn't a DJ when I started; I did live shows. I had — well, it sounds lame, but I had a background tape, and then I had a sampler, a synthesizer, and a hardware sequencer where I had all kinds of stuff programmed. I was mixing in between."

The Miami set will feature all of Virtanen's productions, including his own remixes and reworks of his tracks.

"The set starts with the track 'Calm Before the Storm,' which might not be too hard to guess because it sounds like an intro track," he teases. "The original is an 138 BPM uplifting trance, and now it starts like a cinematic intro-esque at 126 BPM and grows into a progressive trance track."

Overall, Virtanen is happy people continue to resonate with tracks like "Sandstorm" even a quarter century later.

"I just turned 50, and my original crowd from the early 2000s is plus or minus five years from that. My crowds now are pretty young in comparison, so something good must have happened, like online memes, gamers, and whatnot, carrying it over to the next generation," he says. "There's also common nostalgia, so even if you were 3 years old back then, you probably remember your parent playing 'Sandstorm' on the way to daycare."

Darude. With Sarah de Warren and Denzo. 11 p.m. Friday, August 15, at the Ground, 34 NE 11th St., Miami; thegroundmiami.com. Tickets cost $15 to $30 via dice.fm.